Penny Hart

Penny Hart is a retired Canadian Police Inspector with 30 years of experience with the Halifax Regional Police, where she retired as Divisional Commander of the Department in May 2018. She is a proven expert in oversight of criminal investigations in Canada and abroad, accomplished in undertaking and directing high-profile investigations, peacekeeping missions, and international police force training, with experience in many countries including East Timor, Sierra Leone, Jordan, the Netherlands, Jerusalem (State of Palestine), and Ireland.  

Penny is an internationally recognized expert in law enforcement, investigative best practices, legislation, and public safety policy, with specializations in sexual and gender-based violence, and the investigative interviewing of children. She has worked as a human rights investigator conducting interviews for UNICEF, and has served with the United Nations Team of Experts, providing training and advisory support on investigations, human rights inquiries, and justice accountability processes — including work in Ukraine. 

She has been a trainer for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) since 2015. Penny holds a bachelor’s degree from Memorial University in Newfoundland and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Women and Gender Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.